


The Empress and the Servant Boy

by Dorkinatrix



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Adult Content, Adult Trolls, Alternia, Alternia-Focused, Alternian Empire, Assassination, Assassination Attempt(s), Assassination Plot(s), Bathing/Washing, Black Romance, Bondage, Bullying, Caliginous Romance | Kismesis, Character Death, Comfort, Comfort/Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Empress Feferi Peixes, F/M, First Aid, Flushed Romance | Matesprits, Hemospectrum, Hemospectrum Kink, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Kink Shaming, M/M, Major Character Injury, Male Bondage, Master/Servant, Master/Slave, Men Crying, Original Character(s), Other, Psychological Torture, Psychological Trauma, Romance, Royalty, Sea Trolls, Shameless Smut, Spanking, Speech Disorders, Tavros Nitram/ Eridan Ampora black romance, Tavros Nitram/ Feferi Peixes flushed romance, Tavros Nitram/Vriska Serket black romance, Trolls, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-06
Updated: 2016-06-07
Packaged: 2018-07-12 16:10:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7112980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dorkinatrix/pseuds/Dorkinatrix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tavros Nitram is violently and humiliatingly traumatized as War Ship Space Captain Vriska Serkit's low blood servant. Seeing this, royal blooded Feferi, is filled with pity and rage. She responds by confiscating Tavros to be her servant instead.  However, as Feferi works to heal Tavros' physical and mental wounds their master/servant relationship blossoms into a matespritship, causing Feferi's ex-matesprit, Eridan, to become intensely jealous.  </p><p>blackrom: Vriska/Tavros, redrom: Feferi/Tavros, blackrom: Eridan/Tavros</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> What follows is fluffy relationship drama based in the world or Andrew Hussie's Homestuck. Before you decide whether or not to read this, please note that it contains scenes of beating, torture and bullying which may be upsetting to some readers. That being said, I present to you, this godawful embarrassing garbage. Please enjoy.

As an adult troll, Vriska's rose to the rank of Space Captain quickly by means of murder, mayhem and intimidation. Her ship, which she dubbed, The Spinneret, as she christened it with the turquoise blood of her slain predecessor, was really very large and impressive. It contained a fleet of massive and brutal green-blooded soldiers, who where now Vriska's to command.

As the commander of such a fleet, Vriska was now permitted many luxuries, the first of which was a very large and luxurious living space/control room, furnished with soft blue chairs, a rather impressive coffee machine and a framed painting of herself snarling and giving the old captain the finger. In the painting the fallen ex-captain lay dead under Vriska's feet. Vriska's knee was raised and her boot was resting triumphantly in the dead captain's dark teal-splattered hair. Beneath the painting was an intricately carved fireplace, and in front of the fire place was a chess table set with white and black pieces. 

Vriska was a tall troll woman with long disheveled hair, one metal arm and a pair of oval wire-frame glasses, the left lenses of which was blacked out. She sat behind the black chess pieces on the board and moved a pawn forward.

"You're so stupid," Vriska said, smirking in a way that was bemused to the point of almost appearing affectionate. "Do you really think that you could be a match for me in a battle of wits?"

The troll sitting across from her stared down into his lap and fiddled with his hands nervously, not daring to look her in the eye. His name was Tavros and he was a large, broad shouldered troll man with a Mohawk and wide-set horns. He was twice Vriska's height and much more intimidating in appearance, despite his awkward skittish way. However, this made no difference at all in the power dynamic for as a low-blooded servant, he was legally her possession.

"Uhhh.....," Tavros replied lamely. He wanted to answer in a way that wouldn't make her angry. "...I know that I'm not n-not very uh...smart. But um. I guess, uhh...t-thanks for playing with me anyway."

"Only to remind you of your place, idiot," Vriska said, grinning. 

Tavros moved a piece on the board. He had never before beat Vriska a game of chess and did not in truth, believe that he possessed the mental capacity. However, he was slowly and inadvertently improving his skill at the game.

Vriska jumped over his piece with hers and pulled it off of the board.

"Bad move, dum-dum," she taunted, grinning.

Tavros smiled back unsurely and dared to lift his eyes just a bit so that he could see her fanged grin and full blue-painted lips. Then, blushed bronze and dropped his eye back down again. Despite her constant harassment, he really was very fond of her. There was something sad and desperate about her cruelty; a constant insecure need to have her superiority confirmed. It made Tavros pity her.

Tavros moved another piece forward, knowing that it would be taken, and found a strange delight in the sound of Vriska's wicked cackle as she pulled the piece off of the board and placed it beside her growing number of captured pieces. 

"Ha! I have both of your knights now, Torreo-dumbass," Vriska cackled. 

"And....I uh...I have one of your pawns," Tavros bragged meekly. This was a lame attempt to engage in playful banter without making her angry.

"Don't make me jump over this table and strub your ass bronze," Vriska growled dangerously and he could tell by the way that the smirk slipped off of her face when she said it that she was not kidding.

"I'm sorry, Vriska," Travos said quickly, the bronze blush in his grey cheeks deepening. He stared down at his lap blinking back orange-brown tears. "Please don't h-hit me. The last time was so aw-awful..." 

"You have no right to complain," Vriska sneered, jumping another of Tavros' pieces on the board. "Your insolence deserved much worse."

"I know, Vriska. I'm s-sorry," Tavros apologized again.

"Ha! I have basically all of your pieces now, you stupid, dumb idiot," Vriska boasted, snatching another of Tavros' pieces off of the board.

"Uh...nice move," Tavros groveled. "I uhhh....I sure am too dumb to have seen that one coming." This was a lie to flatter her. The truth was he could have easily saved that piece from being taken. 

Vriska sighed and stretched, glaring at the troll across from her with a look of sadistic lust.  
"You're so pathetic," she said. "I really should have let your wimpy paraplegic ass get culled because as a bodyguard, you're not worth the boon bucks I spent on your stupid robot legs."

This hurt Tavros' feelings in a way that her previous comments haven't. He moved a piece forward, feeling angry. Just because his master had not been attacked yet, did not mean that he was a worthless bodyguard. In fact, his mere presence, constantly by her side, had probably already prevented assassination attempts. 

Noticing the angry look on Tavros' face. Vriska, continued to taunt him regarding this topic. 

"I should have known better than to waste my time and money on a stupid shit-blooded dork who doesn't even have enough brain cells in his think pan to win a single game of chess," Vriska said, smirking. "It might be time to replace you."

Tavros glowered at this comment but did not respond. He moved a piece on the board. Then Vriska moved a piece on her side. Vriska, cackled as she jumped Tavros' piece and plucked it off of the board. 

"You're out off pieces, tard-nard!" Vriska taunted and then she broke into a spasm of wicked laughter, as she pointed to his glowering face. She calmed down a bit, smiling big and breathing heavy from the exhaustion of her long laugh, then added: "Well what have you got to say now?"

For the first time since the beginning of their conversation, Tavros lifted his eyes up all of the way and stared directly into Vriska's, his large, fanged mouth and thick, dark brows drawn tight with repressed rage.

"Checkmate," he growled.

The smirk slipped off of Vriska's face and was replaced by a look of indignant incredulity. She stared down at the board. Her king was pinned in the corner of it; trapped beneath Tavros' two remaining pieces: the queen and a pawn.

The room grew quiet for a moment and Tavros immediately regretted his decision to point out the fact that he had Vriska in checkmate. He should have just allowed her to continue not seeing it. Vriska glared at him and he stared back meekly, his eyebrows going soft. 

"You cheated," she snarled, point across the table at his cringing face. She stood up and the abrupt scratching noise of her chair against the floor of the ship made him flinch.

"Vriska...I-I didn't cheat," Tavros defended himself timidly. He remained seated and stared up at the much shorter troll imploringly. "I uhh....I just played the game."

Vriska screamed and tossed the chess table over so that the pieces scattered across the room. 

"Liar!" She shrieked and then stalked over to him and slapped him across the face with her metal hand. He grunted in pain and turned his head away, a bronze bruise spreading painfully across one grey cheek. 

"You're too stupid to have won on your own. You must have cheated!" she accused again. 

Tavros, cradled his aching face in his hands, his lower lip quivering slightly. 

"I didn't cheat," he said again.

Vriska grabbed Tavros' by the front of his vest, snarling.

"Admit that you cheated, or you're about to get the strubbing of your life!" she shrieked.

Tavros closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The memory of his last six or seven humiliating punishments were still fresh in his mind. Vriska had a rabid temper and often found the most inane reasons to discipline him. On top of this his punishments were usually severely, lengthy and preformed in front of other shipmates. 

Tavros exhaled and opened his eyes.

"I c-cheated," he lied desperately. 

"I knew it!"

"I'm....s-sorry, Vriska," Tavros groveled a pair of bronze tears dribbling down his face. He sniffed and wiped them off with the back of his hand. "Uh....please don't...p-please don't uhhh.....hurt me."

Vriska cackled. She walked across the room with callous indifference to Tavros's large, huddled, trembling body as she walked past him and made her way to the control panel at the front of the ship. Stars and planets flew rapidly by the large windshield in front of the control panel. She pushed a red button with a few green Alternian symbols on it, summoning her higher ranking soldiers.

"I'll show you what happens to losers who try to cheat me on this ship," she snarled.

"I'm sorry," Tavros said again, his voice breaking. "Uh....Vriska, please don't punish me! I promise, I'll never do it again!"

"Quiet you," Vriska growled.

Four green blooded soldiers in black and emerald uniforms marched into the room. The door slid closed behind them with a mechanical clink.

"What do you require of us, Captain," the largest of the four soldiers asked. His horns were large and coiled like corkscrews.

"You're going to make sure that Cheaty Mc. Cheaty Pants here doesn't cheat his way out of this punishment," said Vriska, grinning and the four green blooded soldiers grinned back, their expressions dripping with sadism and malice.

Tavros hung his head.

"I uhh...I won't resist," he said sadly.

The green blooded soldiers sniggered.

"What did you have in mind, Captain?" the smallest of the four soldiers inquired. Her horns were short and she wore her short dark hair in a ponytail tied with an acid green ribbon. 

"I've been saving this for a special occasion," Vriska said and then she walked across the room and disappeared into her walk-in closet. 

The troll with the acid green ribbon in her hair licked her lips with anticipation. The other trolls chuckled mirthfully and Tavros blushed, hiding his crestfallen expression in his hands. He hated to be punished in front of people. Having an audience of people laugh at him while he cried made the pain feel about a thousand times worse.

Vriska emerged from the walk-in closet holding a green outfit.

"Tavros!" she barked. 

"Uhh...Y-yes, my Captain?" Tavros replied dolefully.

"Put this on," she said.

Tavros walked up to her, took the clothing out of her hands and walked into the closet with it. He put it on quickly and then emerged, blushing hard.

He was now wearing a green Boy Skylark costume with large yellow buttons down the front of it. There was a green fedora positioned between his large horns with a red feather in it and a pair of pointy green shoes on his feet. He put his hands over his ass and backed away, blushing.

"Dance, Boy Skylark, dance!" Vriska shouted.

And Tavros began dancing stupidly to appease her, kicking his robotic legs and snapping his fingers. Vriska and her higher ranking soldiers laughed.

"Put your hands in the air and twirl!" Vriska commanded.

Tavros' blush deepened and he obeyed. The green blooded shoulders laughed harder. It seemed that the Boy Skylark costume included a green pair of ass-less chaps. 

"Keep dancing, Butt Boy," Vriska cackled, pointing at Tavros' grey rump protruding out of the back of the ass-less chaps. "That's what I'm going to call you from now on. That's your name. Butt Boy Skylark."

Tavros felt an intense wave of shame crash over him as he continued to dance at Vriska's insistence. Then, he could contain his misery no longer and began to cry. This prompted the green-blooded soldiers to point at him and laugh even harder. It made Tavros want to curl into a ball, hide his face and sob but he continued to dance, fearful that if he stopped, Vriska would hurt him physically. 

"Do a booty dance!" Vriska instructed, laughing. "Really twerk it!"

Tavros obeyed this command, sobbing louder as he did so. His world was a sea of derisive laugher, shame, misery and self-loathing.

"Ok, now, let's take this show on the road! Entertain the troops!" Vriska shouted. "Take Butt Boy Skylark out there so he can show this whole starship his moves!"

Tavros' face burned with shame and he stopped dancing, covering his bare ass with his hands again. 

"P-please, Vriska," Tavros wept pathetically. "Don't make me go out there and dance b-bare-assed in front of those p-pe-people. They're already so mean to me..." 

"I said, 'Go out there and entertain the troops'," Vriska hissed with irritation.

"No!" Tavros wept defiantly and then he curled up into a ball on the floor, hiding his face in his hands.

The green blood soldiers glanced at each other and murmured gossip. A bronze blood who defied the direct order of a blue blood would be subject to severe chastisement as dictated by Alternian law. Vriska knew this. The green blooded soldiers knew this. Tavros new this. The room was silent for a moment.

"You stupid, dumb-ass!," Vriska spat, she would have to hit Tavros now or she would look weak in front of her soldiers. "I was going to spare you the strubbing!"

"Uhh....o...ok," Tavros stuttered, standing up. He hung his head and sniveled then turned his back to her. "Uh...you can uhh....you can hit me now. I....d-deserve it."

Vriska, who deep down, below her many psychological problems and narcissistic commitment issues, really did feel some affection for her sniveling put-upon man servant, was starting to cool off now. As her anger faded it was replaced by a growing regret that she had stooped to abusing him so harshly. She couldn't turn back now, though. It would make her look weak in front of her underlings, perhaps even inviting an assassination attempt. She would have to follow through and force Tavros to endure some form of physical punishment. However, she couldn't quite bring herself to hit him herself.

Instead, she wrote some words on a piece of paper and stuck the piece of paper to his back with a piece of scotch tape. When she was done, she took a step backward and admired her work. The green blooded soldiers sniggered to show their approval.

Tavros now had a sign taped to his back with the words: Hello! My name is Butt Boy Skylark! Kick me! I'm a dummy!" written on it in orange magic marker.

"Now I want you to grab a mop and bucket and swab all of the hallways," Vriska commanded sternly. The green bloods giggled a bit, but their mirth was a bit more reserved, confused even. They must have not thought this punishment harsh enough. Perhaps they were right. Under these conditions Tavros might sneak around people and avoid being kicked and laughed at for most to the day.

"Uh...o...ok," stuttered Tavros who was already making plans to avoid being seen by people with extreme stealth. "I guess that uh...not so bad maybe."

"But first," Vriska said, grinning evilly. She needed to keep the respect of her green blooded witnesses and knew just the way. "Turn off his prosthetics."

"What?" one of the soldiers inquired, confused.

"He has robotic legs," Vriska said. "Turn them off and make him crawl!"


	2. Chapter 2

Tavros breathed heavy and dragged his large body across the floor of the ship, clutching the mop with one hand and pushing the bucket along with his forehead. Mopping the floor with his prosthetic legs turned off was a near impossible task. His legs were heavy and useless. Attempting to drag them along was mindless, exhausting agony. What was worse, though, was that he could hide the ass-less back of his humiliating costume in this condition.

Every where he went trolls jeered and cackled and hooted at him, calling him "Butt Boy Skylark." Often trolls walked right up to him and started kicking him while he was trying to clean; inflicting more pain; causing him to squeak and sob and beg for mercy as he attempted uselessly to crawl away from them. His legs were far too heavy and useless to be dragged very far very quickly. It made him an easy target.

A troll with long spiral horns and a buzz cut kicked Tavros in the legs, smirking as he did so. Then he shrieked and grabbed the toes of his broken foot, cursing furiously. He hadn't been expecting Tavros' legs to be made of metal.

"Fuck you!" the troll shrieked, convinced that the kick me sign coupled with the metal legs was a cruel trick on Tavros' part, to break as many unsuspecting troll feet as possible. "You think this is funny? You stupid shit-blooded fucker!" 

The troll screamed again and then started kicking Tavros in the face. Tavros cried out in pain and turned his head away attempting to craw in another direction but he was much too slow. The troll kicked him in the face again and again, breaking his nose, knocking his fangs loose and bronzing both of his eyes swollen. Bronze tears slid down Tavros' face as he whaled and began to scream for help.

"Please stop!" Tavros screamed desperately between defeated sobs. "Help! Somebody h-help me! Please!"

His screams only drew derisive laughter and then seven or eight more attackers who began kicking him on every inch of his body that wasn't made of metal. Weighed down by the burden of his heavy legs, he was powerless to stop them. All he could do was curl into the fetal position with his hands cupped protectively over his genitals and cry.

"Stop it! Stop this immediately!" the voice of a troll woman shouted. She annunciated her words with an elegance and grace that was very different from the harsh rasp of the typical troll's Alternian accent. 

The crowd of green bloods parted, backing away from Tavros' huddled and brutalized body. The source of the voice, that had with so little effort, put an end to Tavros' torture stepped forward. She was a small troll dressed in dark purple pants and a back sleeveless shirt with the mark of the Empress emblazoned on it in purple. Her hair was very long and shiny and was groomed into a neat pony tail tied with a purple band. It was curly but not in a wild unkempt way as Vriska's hair was. It looked premed.

The purple clad troll knelt down and patted Tavros' head gently.

"What's your name, sweetie?" she asked softly.

"T-Tavros Nitram," Tavros sputtered through a mouth dripping with blood.

"My name is Feferi Peixes," the purple clad troll informed him, smiling sweetly.

"Uhhhh....," Tavros moaned and then he closed his eyes and curled into a tighter ball.

Feferi stood up and turned toward the green blooded crowd, which was now joined by a very pissed-off looking Vriska.

"I am Feferi Peixes Ocean Dweller and 4th Princess of the house of Her Almighty Tyranny, The Empress of Alternia!" she announced in a much harsher and angrier tone. 

The crowd was silent and respectful of her speech. To be the 4th Prince or Princess of the House of her Almighty Tyranny, The Empress, meant to be 4th in line for the throne. 

"I find this behavior to be unacceptable!" she shouted, motioning downward to indicate Tavros' heaving, bronze-splattered body. "Who is in charge here?"

Feferi pointed a Vriska and with no small degree of venom said: "As you possess highest hemo-caste here besides myself, I presume it must be you!"

Vriska stepped forward, scowling venomously. She did not much like this pompous, self-righteous Princess.

"I am Vriska Serket, the Captain of this ship," Vriska hissed in reply, and her blue mascara-ringed eyes locked on the purple-mascara ringed eyes of Feferi.

The two troll women glared at each other hatefully for a moment and then Feferi spoke:  
"This is a routine random royal ship inspection," she announced, her voice cold and professional, while at the same time, somehow also managing to burn with hatred. "In accordance with several of Alternia's newly updated laws, corporeal punishment of this degree on ships is now unacceptable! Shaming by nudity is unacceptable! Infighting on Alternian ships will not be tolerated! Captains who permit these behaviors to carryon will be stripped of their privileges and of their rank!"

"Your Tyranny," Vriska addressed Feferi using the polite title, though there was no politeness in her voice. "This man is my servant and he has been disobedient to me, refusing to obey direct orders. As you well know, a high blood who cannot control her low blood servants is a shit stain and a laughing stock. Considering I would have been perfectly within my rights to murder him for his defiance, I think that his punishment was pretty damn lenient. In fact, you should be giving me a trophy for putting up with him as much as I have! We should be at a goddamn award ceremony right now!"

"Miss Serket, this is the twenty-first century. The world is changing, and now the entire galaxy looks to Alternia as a beacon of culture, technology, philosophy, and culinary excellence," said Feferi.

It bothered Vriska that the princess used the human system of measurement "century." Alien nonsense of any variety made Vriska's protein bladder swirl with xenophobic distaste. 

Feferi continued: "The view that the galaxy once had of as brutal, combative bullies is changing. Our planet provides aid to those planets less fortunate than our own. We've started a very successful reforestation project in polluted urban areas--"

Vriska could resist the urge to interrupt no longer: "And your point is?"

Feferi motioned back toward the badly beaten troll on the ground.

"This," she said angrily, pointing at Tavros with both fingers. "Is not what Alternia stands for. Not anymore."

"Ok. No more corporeal punishment. Point taken," Vriska said, waving a hand dismissively. Though, of course, she planned to continue running her ship in the tradition of the Alternian people, which is to say, through violence and intimidation. The second Feferi left, she was going to strub whoever she pleased, starting with that greasy fucker who kicked Tavros in the face. "Are we about done here?"

Feferi knelt down by Tavros' side and spoke softly too him: "Tavros, honey, can you stand?"

"Uhhh...my prosthetics are turned off," Tavros moaned.

"Turn his prosthetics back on!" Feferi ordered. 

A green blood emerged from the crowd, rolled up one of Tavros' pant legs and found a small hatch on the side of it.

"Your Tyranny," the green blood explained and he lifted one of his arms to show her that it ended in a robotic hand. "I have a prosthetic like this. His battery is missing."

The green blood removed a square silver battery from one of his pockets and stuck it in the opening of Tavros' robotic leg, then, closed the hatch and rolled the pant leg back down.

"Thank you, dear. You've been most helpful," said Feferi to the green blood and then the green blood bowed to her and receded back into the crowd.

Tavros stood up slowly, and hung his head in shame. Then sniffled and wiped his nose with the back of his hand. Feferi put an arm around him.

"There, there, pupa," she crooned softly. "I'll take you back to the palace and pap you all better."

"To hell you will!" Vriska spat.

"I am of a higher caste than you, Miss Serket and therefore, I assure I am perfectly within my rights to confiscate your servant. You have lost the privilege to keep low blood servants. Don't bother applying for a new one. You will not receive a replacement," said Feferi and then she walked away, her arm still around Tavros. 

Tavros was quiet and allowed himself to be guided down the hallway, not sure if he should leave Vriska but also fearful that if he resisted or asked a question, Feferi might punish him.

"You haven't heard the last of me, Princess! You'll rue the day you took my servant boy away from me!" Vriska shrieked as Feferi continued to walk away, unconcerned by the lesser woman's idle threats. "I'll get my lawyer on your ass! We'll see how 'perfectly with your rights' you really are!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> music to go with this chapter:  
> Self Esteem by The Offspring  
> Royals by Lorde


	3. Chapter 3

Tavros followed Feferi to her ship, which was docked onto top of Vriska's ship and connected by latter surrounded by a stretch of air-tight tubing. She climbed the latter and crawled up into the smaller ship. Then, not because he wanted to but because he was afraid of what might be done to him if he did not, Tavros followed her.

The inside of Feferi's cruiser was fancy and furnished with intricately carved white coral furniture. There were lacy purple curtains around the windshield and two auxiliary windows. A couple of low blood servants sat at a table covered with food and snacks, chatting idly as they stuffed their faces.

Tavros didn't pay much attention to his surroundings. He was far too busy feeling hurt and humiliated. The urge to start sobbing again was a powerful one but he resisted it, fearful that this would enrage Feferi, forcing her to beat him or order her servants to beat him. 

"Sollux, would you fly the ship back for me? This guy needs some attention," Feferi said.

The troll she was talking to, Sollux, was skinny and had a pair of short dual horns that curled inward. The colors in his clothing indicated that his hemo-caste was that of a yellow blood.

"Sure thing, Fef," he replied nasally, readjusting his dual colored shades. He stood up and walked over to the control panel behind the windshield.

The rust blooded troll woman, who had been sitting across from him, rose from her seat as well and followed Sollux to the front of the ship.

Feferi guided Tavros to the back of the ship, where a large plush purple sofa was built into the wall, the ceiling above was draped with a lacy purple canopy of fabric.

Feferi sat down and invited Tavros to do the same, patting the place on sofa next to were she was sitting. Tavros hesitated, eyeing her fearfully and then, obeyed.

"Uhh....Is it ok if I uh...lay down?" he asked, despite his extreme apprehension. He was feeling pretty awful and dizzy.

"Of course," said Feferi. "After what you've been through, you should lay down. Make yourself comfortable Tavros. I promise you don't have to be afraid of me."

The rust blood woman walked slowly back toward them and said in a quiet, ghostly, monotone: "You really don't. She's very nice."

The rust blood walked away again but Tavros felt that what she had said was sincere. Perhaps Feferi was not a cruel a master as Vriska.

Tavros laid down in the purple satin wall-sofa. Feferi got some spray disinfectant and bandages from a drawer underneath the sofa and started bandaging the scuffs on Tavros' arms. 

Tavros closed his eyes and started to cry quietly. As high blood's opinions of low blood intellect are not generally high, she began stroking his head the way a human strokes a dog.

"Its ok," Feferi crooned, stroking Tavros' head as he cried. "You're a good boy. You're a handsome boy. You're a good boy." 

She started cleaning the blood and tears off of his face with a moist rag but continued to stroke his hair with her free hand as she did so.

"Ok, Tavros, I'm going to snap your nose back into place now," said Feferi softly. "It might hurt but I'm not doing it to be mean or to punish you. It'll make you heal better and when I'm done I'll give you some ice to put on it and then you'll feel all better, ok?"

"Uhh...Ok," said Tavros, neglecting to mention that he'd had his nose broken plenty of times before and this was hardly a new thing for him.

"Are you scared?" Feferi inquired with patronizing concern. 

"Yes. Get it over with please," Tavros moaned with some irritation.

Feferi reached down and snapped Tavros' sharp grey nose back into place with one swift, brutal motion. A jolt of pain shot through Tavros' face and he cried out embarrassingly.

"Shh...It's ok," said Feferi and she started bandaging his broken nose into place. "You're a good boy. You were so brave!"

Tavros did not much appreciate being treated like a stupid child but at least this was a step up from Vriska's constant insults and humiliating punishments. 

Feferi retrieved an icepack from the drawer under the sofa and pressed it to Tavros' face, cooling his swollen eyes, broken nose and bloody mouth.

"Do you feel better now?" She asked him, smiling.

"Uh...No," Tavros answered tearfully. "I still feel horrible."

"When we get back to Alternia we'll have you x-rayed to see if you have any hair line fractures or internal injuries," said Feferi. "Then you'll feel much better."

Tavros started to cry again. Both because of the pain and because he was feeling useless and pathetic. A part of him already missed Vriska, who he imagined would be lost without him around. He imagined her trying to brush her own hair and wondered if she could do it. Then, he pictured her trying to giver herself a bath and imagined that she would completely fail at that as well.

"Tavros, Tavros! Where are you!" he imagined her scream from a suds filled bath tub. "Shampoo my damn hair! You know I can't shampoo my own hair! I am much too important! I have too many irons in the fire!"

The thought made Tavros smile. Then the smile made Tavros disgusted with himself again. Vriska was never going to change. The only thing he could ever hope to achieve by perusing a relationship with her was abject misery.

The thought brought Tavros' mind crashing back down to his broken body. He started to sob again. Feferi stroked his Mohawk lovingly and started telling him that he was good and handsome again. When this failed to calm him down, she started stroking his head more aggressively and sing him a song about cuddle fish in the ocean. Once by one the cuddle fish were eaten by an aquatic hoof beast. And then there were zero.

Tavros closed his eyes and allowed him to be lulled into an uneasy sleep by the slow melody of Feferi's song.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> music to go with chapter 3:  
> Safe and Sound by Taylor Swift  
> She's so High by Tal Bachman

**Author's Note:**

> I have 10 chapters of this story written already. Therefore, updates will most likely be frequent. I would like to get some reader comments and feedback before I post new chapters, however. They don't have to be nice comments. Just pay attention to me damn it.


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